Continuing Care (Scotland) Amendment Order 2019: consultation

Consultation on Draft Secondary Legislation Amending the Continuing Care (Scotland) Order 2015

Children and Families Directorate
Care, Protection and Justice Division

T: 0131-244 3507
E: looked_after_children@gov.scot

To:
Corporate Parents
Looked after children stakeholders

14 November 2018

Dear All,

Consultation on Draft Secondary Legislation Amending the Continuing Care (Scotland) Order 2015

I enclose a draft version of The Continuing Care (Scotland) Amendment Order 2019, which is the most recent and final in the series of planned annual amendment Orders, for your information and to invite any comments.

This draft Order will further increase the higher age limit for persons eligible for continuing care from twenty to twenty-one years of age from 1 April 2019 to ensure that the current cohort of young people continue to be eligible as they increase in age, and will ensure the duty to provide continuing care is extended to all persons eligible from sixteen to twenty-one years of age. This Order will be made using powers inserted into section 26A of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 by Part 11 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 ("the 2014 Act").

The Explanatory Notes that accompany the draft Order in Annex B explain the provisions and are in line with our policy intention, stated during development of the 2014 Act, of increasing the higher age limit on an annual basis. This position was agreed to ensure that the care system was more able to put in place arrangements which could deliver the principles in a measured way^[1]. I have also provided a summary in Annex A as a reminder of the provisions included in the 2014 Act and what is set out in secondary legislation.

The consultation is available on the Scottish Government website here: https://consult.gov.scot/children-and-families/continuing-care. Please send any comments using the website or by email to me at looked_after_children@gov.scot by Wednesday 12 December 2018. Unless you state otherwise your response will be made public but if you ask for your response not to be published we will treat it as confidential. More information about responding to the consultation is in Annex C. You should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and must consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Yours sincerely,

Louise Piaskowski
Policy Officer